Making a Better Life
by Aleema-Keto
Summary: At six years old, Harry Potter has never felt loved. After Sirius is freed from Azkaban, he and Remus go to get Harry. They are shocked to see how he has been treated. Can Sirius gain Harry's trust? Please RR :D


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters from his magical world, I'm just borrowing them :D  
  
AN: This is my first ever Fanfiction. It's an AU Harry Potter story and I hope you like it. I had to take it down and repost because I saw way to many errors in it and they were driving me mad. MAD I tell you! So here is the "improved" chapter one of MaBL :D  
  
Making a Better Life   
  
Chapter One  
  
Discovery  
  
Remus Lupin whistled merrily to himself as he strolled down Diagon Ally. Things, for once in his life, seemed to be going right. He smiled, thinking about the events of the past three weeks. Albus Dumbledore, whom he hadn't spoken to in many years, had shown up at his residence, very unexpectedly...  
  
He had awoken in the dead of night to strange noises coming from down the stairs. Grabbing his wand from the bedside table, Remus slowly made his way to the sitting room, from which the noises were emanating. Expecting the worst, he raised his wand, ready to hex whomever or whatever it was that had braved the wolf's den. He slung the door open and charged into the room. The last thing he expected was to see his old headmaster sitting in one of his armchairs and, quite casually, sipping tea.   
  
"Albus!" Remus yelled out, "I do say... You gave me a good scare."  
  
"Ah Remus, good evening. I must apologize for the intrusion at this hour. I have some news that you must be made aware of." Dumbledore pronounced in a bubbly tone. "Please, have a seat and some tea."  
  
"tea.. yes." Remus answered a little shaky, still nervous from the shock.  
  
Dumbledore waited patiently while Remus situated himself in the armchair across from him, then he began. "What I have to say to you Remus, will not be easy to hear. I must ask that you listen and give no interruptions throughout my explanation."  
  
"Of course Albus, but I really have no idea what this is all about."  
  
"That is understandable. I will waste no more of our time then. Firstly, I need you to recall what you know of the events of Halloween five years ago."  
  
Startled, Remus stuttered, "Albus what.."  
  
"No interruptions Remus, please. Just remember the events of that night."Dumbledore set his tea glass down.  
  
Remus nodded, remembering the events of that horrible night. Still feeling the pain and loss of his dearest friends.  
  
"What you remember of that night, Remus, is not what actually occurred. It seems that Peter Pittigrew was far more clever then anyone gave him credit for."  
  
The headmaster went on to tell Remus of the actual events that transpired on the night of Halloween five years prior. He told of Sirius's and James's plan to make Peter the Secrete Keeper for the Potters, and how they told no one, not even Dumbledore, of this. He told Remus about Pittigrew's betrayal and of Sirius's confrontation. As the true story unfolded, Remus found it more and more difficult to breath. This just couldn't be possible. Peter the betrayer? Sirius innocent? It was just to difficult to comprehend, and yet, if Dumbledore believed it, it had to be true.  
  
"Remus..." Dumbledore pulled him out of his thoughts.  
  
"But how?...How can this be?...How did you learn of all of this?" Moony breathed.  
  
"Pittigrew was an animagus. He could transform at will into a rat."  
  
Remus looked up at Dumbledore guiltily. "Yes albus he was. I never told you but not only was Peter an animagus, but so was James and Sirius. You see.."  
  
"No need for explanations, Remus. Sirius has given me the whole story. I do say, It was irresponsible, but then, I don't recall being completely innocent to mischief in my own Hogwarts days." Dumbledore's eye's twinkled at this. "But back to the topic at hand. Pittigrew, as it turns out, has been hiding out with a wizarding family these past years. The Weasleys, as it were."  
  
"Arthur and Molly?" the thought of Peter hiding out as a rat for five years seemed farfetched.  
  
"Yes well, the Weasly children seem to get into a bit of mischief themselves. Apparently, young misters Bill and Charlie were casting various hexes at one another, when one of Bill's spells bounced off of the window and hit the rat right in the face. The spell seemed to take a strange effect on the family pet, when suddenly, boom, The rat was seen for what he was."  
  
"Remarkable. Dare I ask what happened next?"  
  
"Arthur recognized Pittigrew at once and wasted no time in contacting The Ministry and myself."  
  
Remus sat in silence for a moment taking in all that he had just learned. Realization suddenly dawned on him. "My God! SIRIUS!"  
  
"Calm down Remus. He is being taking well cared of. At this moment, he is at St. Mungos and is being treated by the best doctors. Cornielius wasted no time in his release and is now organizing a team to recover his losses."  
  
'His losses.' Remus thought angrily. 'What about the years he lost in Azkaban. The years he spent in misery. The years his friends should have known the truth.'  
  
"I must go to him Albus. I need to see him."  
  
"Yes, I knew you would want to. I daresay he needs to see a familiar face. I have spoken with him, briefly. He is going to need a friend now more then ever. There is also the subject of Harry."  
  
Remus looked up. "Harry! Of course. What does this all mean for him?"  
  
"Sirius has already made it clear that he wants to take custody of Harry and fulfill his duties as Godfather."  
  
'Still as stubborn as ever Padfoot.' Remus shook his head laughing to himself.  
  
"Arrangements need to be made if Sirius is going to raise young Harry. Certain Enchantments will need to be placed on Black Manor. The Minister, as I understand, already has a task force assembled to clean the place up. I will meet you at St.Mungos tomorrow then?" the headmaster asked.  
  
"Yes, tomorrow. Until then."  
  
And with that, Albus Dumbledore vanished...  
  
-----------  
  
The white walls of St. Mungos hospital were weighing down on Sirius. He was used to dark, cold brick, not this. The room smelled like dish washer liquid and this too was something he was not used to. He sat on the edge of his hospital bed, waiting.  
  
'five years,' he mused, 'five years I've been waiting for this.' what would Remus look like? Be like? He didn't really care. He just wanted to see his old friend, speak to him.   
  
He suddenly heard voices outside the door, "I'm allowing you to see him so long as you don't get him worked up." Sirius rolled his eyes at the Head nurse's comment. whatever else she said though, he couldn't hear. a slight knock was made at the door.  
  
The first thing Sirius noticed about Lupin was the gray patches in his hair. He was more pale then he remembered, but then Sirius wasn't one to talk about being pale. 'these years must have been hard on him.' Sirius thought. He stood and took a step forward. Their eyes locked together and they simply stayed that way for... Sirius didn't know for how long. Finally he broke the silence,  
  
"Well Remus, your looking as shabby as ever."  
  
"And you haven't changed one bit" Remus retorted.  
  
Finally the two men embraced each other in a strong hug. Sirius then pushed Remus to arms length.  
  
"It's good to see you Moony."  
  
Remus suddenly felt guilty. "Listen Sirius, I can't even begin to say that I'm.."  
  
"No need to say anything old friend." Sirius interrupted, seeing the guilt in his friends face. "There was no way you could have known, what with the way I handled things and all."  
  
"Yes but even so, I should have known. I should have known you could never have betrayed James and Lily."  
  
"Your not the only one guilty of suspecting a friend Remus. The truth is, I thought you were the spy who would betray them. That's why I had James switch to...."  
  
Remus saw the look come over Sirius. The anger in his eyes. just the thought of Peter stirred up his emotions. He couldn't blame him. 'how could you do it Peter... how could you?'  
  
"Well what's done is done. I don't think we should sit around trying to figure out who's to blame. I think the important thing now is to concentrate on Harry."  
  
Sirius looked up sharply at the mention of his Godson. "Harry! Remus tell me, how is he? Dumbledore didn't tell me much of anything."  
  
"I'm afraid I don't know much myself. I haven't see Harry in almost five years now." Remus answered.  
  
"WHAT? You mean you haven't been raising him? Then who? Tell me." Sirius shouted all at once.  
  
"Padfoot don't get over excited." Sirius humphed at this. "The head nurse has made it very clear that she will kick me out of here if you become anything but calm."  
  
"Bah. What does she know." Sirius scoffed.  
  
"More then either of us, I'm sure." Remus smiled. "Anyway as for Harry, he's been living with his aunt and uncle in Surrey. I thought it would be a bad idea for a child to be raised by a.. well you know"   
  
"Well I believe I have a say so in the raising of this kid, and I say I can't raise Harry without you. What do you say?"  
  
Remus was taken back. All those years he spent in Azkaban, and Sirius still had a heart the size of a mountain. He thought about the offer Sirius had just made him. 'would it be safe for Harry.' He then thought about Padfoot raising a six year old all alone. 'It would probably be disastrous for Harry otherwise.' He smiled at his thought.  
  
"Padfoot, I would be honored to raise Harry with you."  
  
The two marauders spent the rest of the night talking about old times, remembering what it was to have a friend...  
  
---------  
  
Remus now found himself to be standing in front of Gringnotts. He was here to collect some money for Sirius. Originally, Remus thought Sirius would want to do this; get some fresh air. But then he discovered Sirius's reluctance to go out in such a public place, worried about what people's reactions would be at seeing him.  
  
'For now you can hide out in that family mansion of yours, Padfoot. But so help me, you are going to learn to live again'  
  
He quickly retrieved the gold from Padfoot's vault and hurried on his way back to Black Manor. 'Tomorrow,' he thought, 'Tomorrow we will get to see Harry again.'  
  
He had so many different ideas as to what Harry would look like, but he just couldn't imagine what the little baby he had known had grown up to be.   
  
"I just hope he wants to come live with us" He whispered...  
  
-----------  
  
Harry Potter lay curled up in his blanket, listening to the grandfather clock in the hallway. He had been six years old for a couple of hours and he was trying to figure out if being six felt any different from being five. Checking to see if he was any taller was out of the question. The little cupboard that served as his room often had large spider webs hanging down low and Harry didn't think it would be very nice to mess up all the little spiders work. He wasn't to keen on the idea of being biten either.  
  
'I bet this year will be different' Harry thought. 'I bet this year Aunt Petunia might even make a cake.'  
  
Harry had never actually tasted birthday cake before, but he was sure it was yummy. Deep down though, Harry knew today would be just like every other day. He couldn't help but to hope though. With thoughts of birthday cakes and imaginary friends to play with, he slowly drifted off to sleep.....  
  
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!  
  
The sounds of thunderous footsteps woke Harry from his dreams. Next he heard his cousin Dudly shout out.  
  
"MOMMY! I can't find my new airplane!"  
  
He then heard his aunt give a muffled reply before the cupboard door was thrown open.  
  
"Get upi you filthy little beast." Petunia snarled at Harry. "Vernon will be down any moment and I want his breakfast ready for him."   
  
Harry climbed out of the cupboard and headed to the kitchen.  
  
"And if you spill one thing, you won't be getting anything to eat for the rest of the week" She added as she glared at him. With that said, she turned to Dudly, whom Harry now saw standing at the foot of the stairs.  
  
"Come on now Duddykins, lets go find your airplane. I'm sure it's somewhere in your little playroom."  
  
The two of them made their way up the stairs to look for, what Harry guessed, was Dudly's new remote controlled airplane. When uncle Vernon had brought it home two nights ago, Dudly had immediately took it out to the yard to fly it. Harry's heart surged with want as he watched the plane whirl and whip through the sky.  
  
"I wish I could fly." Harry whispered, remembering the way the airplane soared through the air.  
  
He put away thoughts of flying as he began to fix his uncle's plate from the breakfast aunt Petunia had already started. Then an idea came to him, 'Maybe Dudly will let me play with his airplane today cause it's my birthday,' he thought wistfully.  
  
His thoughts were interrupted by uncle Vernon's pounding voice.  
  
"BOY! WHAT DID YOU DO?" His uncle shouted at him.  
  
Harry slowly turned his trembling body to see what his uncle was talking about. His heart was pounding. Vernon was holding up Dudly's airplane, or what was left of it, in his big meaty fist. It looked like it had been sat on by something very big. Aunt Petunia was trying to placate a sobering Dudly behind Vernon.  
  
"Don't worry Duddykins, daddy will get you a new one. " She kept assuring Dudly.  
  
Vernon's attention, however, was on little Harry. "WELL BOY! What did you DO?"  
  
"na..nothing." Harry replied quivering.  
  
"NOTHING! HA! You nasty little liar. You did this. Don't think you can get away it." Vernon towered over him. "I'll show you."  
  
Vernon turned to Petunia, "Dear, take Dudly out to the car. We'll all go to the toy store and get two new planes."  
  
This seemed to cheer Dudly right up, as he stopped crying and dashed out the front door to the car. Aunt Petunia glared down at Harry, turned, and walked out the front door after Dudly.  
  
Vernon lunged at Harry, who tried to jump back, but was not fast enough. Vernon slapped him down on the floor, raised his fist, and brought it crashing down on Harry's back.   
  
"You, little freak, are going to learn not to touch things that you don't deserve!"  
  
Vernon then jerked Harry up and started dragging him towards the stove. Harry tried to squirm out of his grip, but couldn't. Vernon lifted Harry's arm out to the stove top and the next thing he felt was burning on his arm as Vernon pressed it down on the red hot burner. He screamed in pain, but Vernon held him strong on the spot. At some point Harry felt himself being dropped to the floor. The last thing he was aware of was uncle Vernon's towering form above him, then blackness...   
  
(Hours later)  
  
Harry woke with a start, throwing his hands up defensively. Immediately he wished he hadn't. A stinging pain shot across his arm. he lay for a moment, panting. He was dimly aware that he was back in the cupboard and there were no noises coming from the rest of the house. Finally he stretched his little arm out to inspect it. He hissed under his breath in pain. A strange looking burn laced across his forearm. It was blistered over and very red. As he tried to sit up pain shot though his back. That was nothing new though. His ankle was throbbing. Harry felt tears brimming his eyes, blurring his vision.  
  
"Don't cry" Harry whispered to himself. "It'll only make things worse."  
  
'Maybe it's not too bad. Maybe it's just a little hurt. I'm ok, really'  
  
Harry curled up in his raggy blanket and tried to convince himself that he was ok. That everything was ok. If everything was ok, then he wouldn't have to think about why Uncle Vernon always hit him. He wouldn't have to think about how maybe he deserved what uncle Vernon did to him.  
  
Pondering this, Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, laid down in his cupboard under the stairs and drifted off to sleep.  
  
concluding notes: Well There it is. I"m not to sure how long I'm gonna make it, but I do have some really good ideas that will take place in upcoming chapters. This chapter seems a little... I don't know what the word would be for what it is, but I do know that I needed to explain how Sirius had gotten out of Azkaban and I didn't want it to rushed. I also didn't want it long winded. Please tell me what you guys think by reviewing. Until next time :D 


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